Sometimes I worry that I've lost the plot. My twitchin' muscles tease my flippant thoughts.
I never really dreamed of heaven much until we put him in the ground, but it's all I'm doing now
- listening for patterns in the sound of an endless static sea. ~ Conor Oberst

July 26, 2006

Like the poster for the film suggests this is about a strange group of people who find themselves in the same house, and learn to care and understand each other (Somewhat similar to Love Song for Bobby Long, but better). The story is really about Reese (played well by Zooey Deschanel) and her loneliness, as her parents are both egocentric writer's, and she has left them behind to pursue an acting career. She returns after 7 years to find that her mother has passed, and her father (played by Ed Harris) has taken in two strangers to live in his house, he has also taken up golf, and to sleeping in the garage. She originally comes to find some letters that a publisher will pay dearly for, but soon discovers that she has come to a place that may offer her more - restoration. The story works because every time it could stoop to sappy sentimentality, it doesn't. In the end, not everything is perfect, but the strangers have learned about each other's pain and it has helped them be more human. Will Ferrell plays a serious, yet comic role - which at first seems strange, but works. (Hat tip to Scott for the recommendation).

We are lonesome animals. We spend all of our life trying to be less lonesome. One of our ancient methods is to tell a story begging the listener to say-and to feel- ‘Yes, that is the way it is, or at least that is the way I feel it.’ You’re not as alone as you thought. —John Steinbeck